If you’ve reached your click-limit on this site, you can read this week’s full edition (including horoscopes) with an single issue purchase. Or, try an essential Core Community membership here.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury stations direct Friday, concluding a long succession of inner-planet retrogrades — first Mercury, then Venus, then Mercury again. This is an unusual station direct, characterized by Mercury in the resonant first degree of Libra, opposite the Aries Point and conjunct the lunar North Node.

These factors all describe a bold and meaningful moment; granted, one set amidst the usual chaos and turmoil of the world. There are subtle points to the chart as well, though first I would like to cover a few basics. And before I go there, I want to remind you that tonight will be a live, call-in edition of Planet Waves FM (the third and last in this particular series).

That will be at 9 pm EDT (other time zones listed below). You’re invited to share your Mercury retrograde stories, your thoughts about relationships, your vision for yourself and the world and just about anything else. Call details are at this link, or below this letter.

Mercury stationing direct can be stressful. You might feel overwhelmed and like you just need to get by. Take things slowly and do your best to prioritize. The tide will turn fairly rapidly Friday as the station-direct happens (at about 10:57 am EDT, 7:57 am PDT or 14:57 UTC), and much that you were concerned about will seem to evaporate.

If there are things that you didn’t accomplish or had to put off, I suggest using some discipline to make sure that you can do them well rather than just getting stuff done.

Yet there are some unusual opportunities described in this chart. One is to clear your withholds with intimate partners. What aren’t you saying? This is a good moment to get it out into the air. In our world of programmed avoidance, it’s easy to forget that relationships are about communication rather than commitment.

The way the term is used currently, commitment is an abstraction. It’s often a wispy notion that something is real rather than the expression of actual devotion. Devotion is different from entanglement; the distinction is rarely made.

You can be pretty sure that the discussion you need to have, or want to have, is similar to what many others want, need and are listening for. I can’t assure you it’s what your partner or associate wants, but it just may be. However, there is a larger discussion happening; something many people have in common, and it’s revealing something of itself now.

Photo by Charlie Lemay.

I can see that in the Aries Point contact of this event; nothing is strictly private and nothing is strictly public. The two concepts overlap more and more, especially as many of us spend our days broadcasting ourselves on the Internet.

It helps a lot to focus your thoughts on yourself and on your circumstances rather than on other people. It helps even more to discern inwardly what you really want to be thinking about from what is toxic. There exists considerable confusion on this point.

An obsession with gossip still seems to soak the human race, which is toxic speculation about others, amusement with their pain and fascination with the sex they are supposedly having or not having. This has the ‘benefit’ of taking the emphasis off of the gossiper and the changes they might want to make. The purpose of gossip, as with all games, is to avoid intimacy.

Then there’s the North Node — Mercury stations direct in a close conjunction to this point. Many people try to describe the energy of the North Node, which is not a thing but rather a direction in space. The North Node, also called Rahu, has an attractive and even compelling quality, but it seems to draw us in even as it emits a kind of reverse magnetism. It can be annoying for those who can only do what they are already habituated to doing. You might think of the North Node as the opposite of habitual.

It often feels like being drawn toward and into something, while at the same time that thing is creating a countercurrent that you must push against or lean into if you want to get the experience or develop the skill you want. In Libra, this is a relationship skill, or a new concept of relationship.

We who live in the United States don’t see how painfully ridiculous our currently known models of relationship have become.

Photo by Charlie Lemay.

The usual choices include: married on the first date, sexless marriage, codependent entanglement, codependent entanglement based on money and/or property, fed up with codependent entanglement therefore not engaging potential partners or love interests, perpetual hookup pattern, terrified of commitment, in love with someone on the Internet (who is married), living with someone and wanting to be independent but afraid to leave the relationship, feeling too good for everyone, feeling not good enough for anyone, committed but having affairs, wanting a relationship but never having one, various kinds of scenes involving police and/or lawyers, and crying on the shoulder of someone who wants sex and greater depth with the person sharing their feelings (which then never happens).

You may think I’m cynical. I’m not; I’m an astrologer. I’ve been listening to relationship stories for more than 20 years.

I’m also aware that there are crews that come out every night and paint the world in a romantic gloss infused with glitter and gleam. That’s not reality; it’s the casting of a glamour (click the link — it’s a most interesting word). The gloss of romance says that it’s the answer to all that ails us; it’s the pearl of great price; it’s the one worthy goal in all the world. In reality it seems to lead more to misery than anything else.

I am always gratified and amazed when I encounter someone who has an actual partner, someone with whom they feel a mutual kind of support and devotion. I know some of those people, and they are an extreme minority. It’s rare to find someone who loves you for who you are rather than what they would have you be or what they can use you for.

Often the very best relationships have drawbacks too — many people with a partner they love and trust want additional independence that the relationship does not afford. Mature relationships make room for mature people who have their own lives in addition to what they share.

I am also noticing a problem with people perpetually clinging to relationships that don’t work, seemingly out of the fear of being alone. There’s a lot to that fear — to that sensation of not being complete without a relationship. I think that most people in that mode know there’s a real issue just under the surface, an issue they are avoiding.

Photo by Charlie Lemay.

The main event of this chart is happening in Libra — Mercury stationing direct conjunct the North Node. A Libra event says to look at Venus for more information, and there we have an interesting scenario depicted.

Venus has just entered Virgo. Many planets are also in Virgo amplifying this theme. At the time of Mercury stationing direct, Venus will be in the first degree of Virgo making many aspects to other planets around the chart: for example, it’s conjunct Transpluto. It’s square Saturn. It’s opposite Nessus and Neptune. This puts Venus, an important planet in this chart, under some stress, or describes a kind of quandary. And in the spirit of Venus, this seems to be about one’s personal value.

Underneath most of the problems that we describe as relational, psychological or spiritual there is a vast, seething issue of self-worth. That issue has many influences feeding it. One is being under the thumb of religious authority even if you don’t think you’re influenced by religion. This is one of the most serious social problems we face — the making secular of absurd religious values and failure to question their toxic residue, mainly guilt and shame.

Venus in Virgo conjunct Transpluto is seething with perfectionism, self-criticism, picking every pimple and having an extremely narrow view of oneself. If we remember that both points are square Saturn in Sagittarius, it can really seem like there’s no way out — except of course to become Born Again or join an ashram and put everything off for another 10 or 20 years.

However, Venus is also opposite Nessus in Pisces. That’s the looming shadow of sexual abuse and violated trust that seems to be everywhere. Venus opposite Nessus implies that the buck stops there, out there, with that other person — not with you. The resolution to Nessus always involves some form of the buck stopping here, with you. You are doing Nessus when you choose to stop the cycle of pain, wounding and/or abuse in your life.

Photo by Charlie Lemay.

Victim culture, however, is thriving right now. The cult of gender rage and blame is getting ratings close to those of Donald Trump. It’s enticing because it’s so emotive and self-righteous and involves lashing out at those cast as the worst people in the world.

The antithesis to victim culture is taking responsibility for where you’re at in life. That’s not self-blame or blaming the victim; it’s about having a concept of accountability other than blaming and victimization.

I like to think that there are some elegant solutions to these seemingly different issues. But I think any real solution is going to be messy for a while; we must confront not just a mess in society but also within many people who have gone decades without addressing their inner reality.

I would caution younger people that it’s easy to end up bitter and let down in your 50s and 60s if you don’t address the things that concern you when you’re younger (when you seemingly have plenty of time, and plenty of options). To do this you would need to get out of the herd mentality and think for yourself. So what if everyone else decides you’re a weirdo or a threat to their denial trip?

I would note that much of the pain and controversy I am describing in this article involves orgasm. Most of the rules of relationship involve the regulation of the orgasm, or the harvesting of its energy for some other purpose.

The other day someone sent me a link to a web page quoting some Pleiadian teachings channeled by Barbara Marciniak, from the book Bringers of the Dawn.

“The orgasm has been distorted from its original purpose,” says one of these teachings. “Your body has forgotten the cosmic orgasm of which it is capable because society has taught you for thousands and thousands of years that sexuality is bad. You have been taught this in order for you to be controlled and to keep you from seeking the freedom available through sexuality. Sexuality connects you with a frequency of ecstasy, which connects you back to your divine source and to information.”

Of course, in our time, this paragraph could cause a riot. It would be fun to read it over the PA system during the World Series and see what happens.

Back in the 1990s when I was first getting started as an astrologer, I spent a bit of time with Pleiadian teachings. One day when I was standing in my kitchen they arrived with a message for me, in the form of a term I could use for this idea I was developing, and still am: mutual independent relationship.

I’ll take up that subject on tonight’s live program, and possibly develop it in upcoming Libra-themed editions next week. For now, I leave you to contemplate the idea. By the way, the initials of that term form the word mir, Russian for world, peace or universe, depending on the context.

Lovingly,

PS — I plan to record the Libra reading Friday and have it out to you by Saturday. You can still get it for the pre-order price. I know I’m not working with your chart, though never mind that. I get good information from event charts, which often exceeds what’s available from the natal chart. There are many ways into the hologram. In any event, I’ll have this reading for you soon.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.

Live Call-In: We’re All In This Together

Here is call-in data for Thursday’s live, call-in edition of Planet Waves FM. Please share your reflections on the Mercury retrograde that ends Friday, as well as what you’ve been learning about relationships — or anything else.

Time: Thursday, Oct. 8 at 9:00 pm EDT
Listening methods: Phone, Webcall, Skype, Web Simulcast
Phone number: (425) 440-5100
PIN Code: 472091#

Or to listen live on the Internet, please use this link. The recording will be published to Planet Waves FM. The whole world is invited. Here are other time zones: Thursday 3 pm HST (Honolulu), 6 pm PDT (San Francisco), 7 pm MDT (Boulder), 8 pm CDT (Chicago), 9 pm EDT (New York), or Friday 2 am BST (London), 3 am CED (Paris), 3 am CEST (Warsaw), 4 am MSK (Moscow), 9 am CST (Beijing), 9 am AWST (Perth), 10 am JST (Tokyo) and 11 am AEST (Melbourne).

Re-Focusing Your Life — Plus Last Year’s Libra Reading, With Our Compliments

“Thank you so much for sending this wonderful birthday report. It is fabulous and I was so astounded at Eric’s completely intuitive and amazing ‘feel’ for a much more deep and meaningful explanation of the approaching transits. He never ceases to amaze me with his very unique ability. I thank my lucky stars that I found Planet Waves!” — Vicki, describing a recent Libra reading

Dear Friend and Reader:

We’re in the home stretch: Eric plans to record your Libra Birthday Reading tomorrow, and Mercury stations direct in your sign on Friday. This means you have a limited time to pre-order the Libra reading at the discounted price; once the reading publishes, the price will increase.

These few days around the station direct could be especially turbulent, vexing or just a little ‘off’ feeling. Notice when you’re not focused on what you are doing (or saying/writing), and re-focus.

To help you reflect on the insights you’ve gained during this retrograde and review your last year — which, according to our Libra readers, has featured some challenging undoing and restructuring — we’re offering you instant access to last year’s Libra reading, on us. It’s a way to focus your energy, mind and heart, and prepare the way for the opportunities Eric will be describing in this year’s reading.

We hear you, Libra: your life looks completely different from how it did two years ago; your relationships (including to yourself), your finances, your very foundations have undergone upheaval. Formulaic online astrology ‘readings’ aren’t going to cut it for you. Eric offers an audio intensive that’s nuanced and compassionate enough to allow you to see yourself in it, yet practical enough that you’ll actually feel empowered to use the ideas.

Once you’ve listened to your complimentary Libra reading from last year, please take advantage of the discounted pre-order price for the 2015 Libra reading — and point your new solar year in the right direction.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

P.S. This Libra reading makes a unique, life-enhancing gift for any Libra loved one. Give it to your favorite Libra now.

“You rock, Eric! I’ve listened to these each three or four times, and will continue to repeat them again. Your readings are so rich with information, deeply congruous, and could not be more pertinent to my life and situations. I do not claim to be audience to many, as I have an audience of my own that I serve, but your voice is one of those that I count on. I cannot express greater appreciation for the services of any one person in existence.” — 2015 Leo Reading client writing in last week — Tim Quigley, Groovera New Modern Radio

Let Dignity Shower All

By Amanda Painter

With planets clustered in Libra and Virgo, the themes of justice and service are emphasized — along with tangible creativity (or, as Eric has put it in the past, “applied science”) and an orientation on the humanity of all. These ideas come together beautifully in a recent project from San Francisco non-profit Lava Mae: to convert decommissioned city buses into mobile showers for the homeless.

Doniece Sandoval, founder of Lava Mae, explains in the first video here that San Francisco has only seven facilities where people without permanent housing can bathe, yet has more than 3,500 people living on the streets. The need is dire; each mobile shower bus can provide 2,000 showers per week, by tapping into city fire hydrants.

Being unable to take care of basic hygiene on a regular basis (on top of the many other stressors of being homeless) not only affects how others see us, it affects how we see ourselves. And these perceptions can have a very real, very negative effect on one’s ability to get back on track. Dignity is easily eroded; being able to shower makes a difference. It’s not a magic bullet by any means, but it is a few moments of reprieve.

In the second video here, you can see the fully transformed mobile shower unit in action. You’re also invited to read this piece from The Bollard, a free weekly published in Portland, Maine. In it, 50-year-old former librarian Maryhope Tobin writes about her struggles while homeless. Most of us don’t think about how quickly we could go from ‘okay’ to ‘desperate’. It will take more than turning buses into showers to bring stability to those on the cusp of survival — but it’s a toehold for those straddling the line.

Mercury Stations Direct Friday, Plus Grace Lee Boggs and What Happened at Umpqua Community College

Dear Friend and Reader:

In this week’s edition of Planet Waves FM, I look closely at the chart for Mercury stationing direct on Friday. I’ll also be hosting a live, call-in edition of Planet Waves FM on Thursday night. Details about that call are included at the end of this letter. This is the third in a series of call-in programs that I’ve been hosting on Thursday nights — events which began last year as Core Community meetings.

Grace Lee Boggs, 1915-2015.

In tonight’s program I also look at the life of philosopher and meta-activist Grace Lee Boggs, who died last week at age 100. That chart is below.

Then I review a couple of news stories, including 19 European countries opting out of genetically modified foods, and I look at the chart for the shooting at Umpqua Community College.

One story that I don’t mention is a ruling by a top court in Europe breaking an agreement between the U.S. and the E.U. previously allowing companies to participate in the mass collection of personal data and private communications.

My musical guest is the amazing Jessica Lee Montague from her CD “Hooked.” I just looked it up and apparently you can pick it up for a penny. Go figure. It’s worth full fare, and some of these songs stand tall among some of the greatest artists in rock music. As Kate Bush once said, most women really can’t put it to you — that is, push you so hard you fall over. Hello Jessica!

I mention her dad, one of my journalism heroes, Dr. Peter Montague. Here are some of his articles archived at Op-Ed News.

The biggest version of the cover of Jessie’s album I could find. It sounds a lot larger when you play it.

Speaking of journalism (and civil rights) heroes (again), I also promise a link to Amy Goodman’s archive of interviews with Grace Lee Boggs.

I promise a link to an article called The Folk Art of Therapy.

And since I mentioned the Capricorn Moon, Article on that particular lunar placement.

Here is call-in data for Thursday’s live edition. Please watch the Planet Waves homepages, Facebook and your email for reminders.

Time: Thursday, Oct. 8 at 9:00pm Eastern
Listening methods: Phone, Webcall, Skype, Web Simulcast
Phone number: (425) 440-5100
PIN Code: 472091#

Or to listen live on the Internet, please use this link. The recording will be published to Planet Waves FM. The whole world is invited. Here are other time zones: Thursday 3 pm HST (Honolulu), 6 pm PDT (San Francisco), 7 pm MDT (Boulder), 8 pm CDT (Chicago), 9 pm EDT (New York), or Friday 2 am BST (London), 3 am CED (Paris), 3 am CEST (Warsaw), 4 am MSK (Moscow), 9 am CST (Beijing), 9 am AWST (Perth), 10 am JST (Tokyo) and 11 am AEST (Melbourne).

Your charts are below.

Lovingly,

Your Monthly Horoscopes — and our Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscopes for October were published Thursday, Sept. 24. We published your extended monthly horoscopes for September on Thursday, Aug. 27. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Aries Full Moon were published Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The conversation you’re having within a particular relationship may turn around suddenly, so don’t get yourself in a huff about anything. Keep listening, and pay attention when you do. You will benefit from the information you gather over the next two or three days. You may gain insight into certain key people in your life that you would be unlikely to have otherwise, and this will change not just your opinion but also your emotional orientation. Put simply, what you know will help you get along better with significant others in your life. What would help immensely is recognizing that you’re working for a common cause — the mutual improvement of your lives. It would be wise of you to work out any anger or resentment that you may feel, particularly toward women. Come to terms with your sentiments, find an appropriate time to have any necessary discussions, and resolve to forgive (especially yourself) and move on. You have greater things to look forward to than you’ve come to expect. Therefore, let go of your old expectations, and point your life forward.

 

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You seem determined to push forward with your creative plans, and you will make plenty of progress over the next few days if you keep your focus. That means a few things. One is to stay close to your motivation. Something is driving you forward, and it would be helpful to work with whatever that is. It might be something personal, such as emotional or sexual attraction. You might be driven by service and your need to do the right thing. You might have a message you want to get out. Whatever may be moving you, stay close to it both mentally and emotionally. Second, don’t let yourself be driven mad by the details. Attend to them as necessary, though that’s different from obsession. Said another way, keep your larger goals in mind and guide everything in that direction. Last, remember that all collaboration is about relationships, and that means relating. Efficiently iron out any misunderstandings. Be flexible and respectful of the authority of others. Be willing to contribute a little extra to the solution, and to help reduce any tension in the environment.

 

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Mercury, the Gemini planet, stations direct Friday in one of the sweet spots of your chart. I could describe the properties of Mercury in the first degree of Libra, such as some miracle of diplomacy, or solving a problem that defied all resolution. Yet there’s something much larger and more significant — which is to say, this involves your orientation on existence. Yes, you have one; you have a worldview, you have a perspective that influences everything you perceive and everything you believe. This is what’s changing; this is what’s awakening in a way that’s never quite happened before. Your life could pivot on something that seems small or insignificant; a single idea could lead you to reevaluate everything. Are you open to change on that scale? It would help immensely if you are. Longterm factors present in your chart are calling on you to be adaptable, particularly in your opinions. You may need to do this in the face of others who expect you to buy into their dogma or their own intractable position. Hang loose. Reality is not what it seems.

 

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — A few times recently I’ve brought up the theme of writing and how important it is for you this year (meaning, the year that Jupiter is in Virgo) — and I’m here with this topic once again. If you’ve found this to have some appeal, or if I’m saying something you already know, this is the weekend to connect with your mission. True, you’ll have others in the coming seasons, but few so effective as this particular moment. Remember that writing is a craft, much like carpentry. It is day-to-day, hour-to-hour work, and it can be great fun. Your raw materials are ideas, observations and personalities. If you’re not especially experienced with writing-as-craft, start with a small project, designed with a purpose, that you complete. Then move on to the next. If you are experienced, you’re ready for something more ambitious. You might start with a one-page treatment of your concept, and get started gathering or building your basic elements — character sketches, dialog or taking some research up one level into readable form. Meanwhile, as for your physical world, this is a great weekend to stay close to home and see what you discover and who you meet. You could not have a better time in Paris, London, Moscow or Mozambique, unless of course you already live there.

 

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You may feel driven to get your finances in order, and you can make some progress doing that. However, something more immediate seems to be on your agenda — something new and unfamiliar that does not involve resolving much of anything from the past. This is one of those moments when it’s vital that you not allow old business or old ideas to influence your new dreams, desires and designs. This may be a challenge, as certain matters lingering over from your prior affairs are definitely trying to get your attention. They may or may not matter much in the near future; in any event, anything seemingly important can wait. Your new opportunity — whatever it is — is more sensitive to the passage of time and it has a specific window, which you’re about to enter. Unlike any activity or task that is a holdover from the past, you will need to get accustomed to being in unfamiliar territory with a thinner atmosphere. Not everything seems so certain; you have to make things up as you go along. Yet the pull or draw in that direction, the sense that you really need to begin this thing, is undeniable.

 

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — It’s not as complicated as it seems. You just need to sort out your feelings. Don’t dance around the main point, which seems to be anger. There’s a reason people are afraid of anger, which is that it contains power. I suggest you start by not meeting anger with fear and instead listen to what it’s telling you. If there’s something about being angry at women, or a specific woman (your mother, or someone else in a position of authority, whether now or in the past), be real about that with yourself. It will not help you at all to deny your emotions, or to take them out on yourself; you’ll only weaken yourself. The question is what to do with your feelings, and I would suggest that acknowledging them and the influence they’ve had over you is plenty. You may, however, notice that you’re making decisions from a different point of view. You might even pause for a few days and decide what you really want to do. Remember to write your agenda in pencil or on a chalkboard; it’s subject to change.

 

 

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — If you can set aside the idea that others are being critical of you, you will see that you’re the one being critical of yourself. However, this may turn up in some form that you don’t recognize, such as fear. You’ll help yourself greatly by observing your anxiety level (including in your dreams and upon awakening) and pausing long enough to figure out what’s really going on. You may have to move through a few layers of consciousness to do that; one issue is likely to mask another. From the look of your charts, you appear to be in a situation where you don’t see an easy way to resolve things, nor do you see an easy way out. You may be wondering if you’re actually trapped somehow. If you’re in a trap, it’s psychological, which would include emotional. There are some old patterns involved. The most important things you can do are to observe yourself carefully and look for those patterns, which may go back a very long way. Remember that you are no longer a child and don’t need to respond as one. You have your adult powers, including the ability to make choices. Remind yourself of that, and get some options in front of you, and you will feel better.

 

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may notice that people are responding to you more than usual — that is, hearing what you say, or at least recognizing that you said something; noticing you in public; perhaps responding to you more vocally in online environments. If you haven’t observed this happening, you might step up your presence a notch or two and be just slightly more open about how you’re feeling. This can include with yourself, in the form of not intentionally suppressing — or worse, rationalizing — your emotions away. You may feel especially vulnerable dropping these defenses. You may feel like you’re suddenly subject to the wrath of others. Something else is more likely: you will be in a much better position to negotiate. Indeed you may feel like you’ve discovered the secret ingredient that brings you to the same level as others. This whole thing about denial and rationalization as mental processes that render others superior to you deserves a good close look, such as if you were to write a novel about it. For now, you have a tool to work with, one that will help you maintain level ground with the people in your life.

 

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The next few days arrive with a rare alignment that gives you many ingredients you need to move your life forward. You might begin by identifying the areas where you feel like you’re held back. This in turn would help you focus your priorities. There are some aspects of your life where you are making steady progress and others where you seem to be lagging behind. The areas where you feel like you’re moving slowly are not as stuck as you may think. Much of what you need is a bold, clear assessment of your existence, your priorities and your sense of the future. Put one way, you need clear goals; and if you take some time today and through the weekend to focus some of those, you will discover later on that they were prescient. Your planets have you aligned with your future so well that you can look right at it and see it clearly. Notice what you can visualize. Notice what you can feel. Notice what makes you curious. Those are signs that you have vitality and passion behind your ideas.

 

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You know you’re capable of great things. The question is, what is standing between you and your potential? If you’re asking that, your mind is starting to come into focus. Though you’re a Capricorn, famous for getting things done, it would appear that applying discipline to a specific idea is what you must focus on. It’s not enough to have good ideas, and it’s not enough to be busy all the time. It’s essential to take a larger task, in this case a specific goal, and break it down into smaller steps, and complete each of those steps one at a time. This is about efficiency more than anything; there are a limited number of hours in the day, and a finite number of years in your life. If you find yourself acting like you have time to spare, you need to re-focus your mind and get back to those specific steps. The good news is that you’re in an excellent position to actually do this, rather than merely wanting to, or thinking about doing so. You’re at a point of beginning where you can strike a difficult balance between taking care of the present and taking care of the future. Yet in the long run you must be willing to come back to the task at hand every day, and maintain vigilant awareness of your priorities.

 

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may not adhere to any religion, preferring your own version of the cosmic order, based on your own inquiry into life. That is a sign of intelligence; you don’t need to run your body and soul on someone else’s operating system when you can write your own. Here is the place where anyone who is really thinking falls off the wagon of the dot-org, ism-obsessed version of spiritual reality: it almost always prioritizes an abstract relationship (with a seemingly non-incarnated entity) above the connections we have with one another. True, religion pays lip service to ‘love thy neighbor’, but we see how well that works in the corporate version of spiritual life. You seek connection with the divine through connection to humans and other critters, to society and through self-awareness. Nearly all religion is set up to deny the obvious benefits of living in actual contact with yourself and your world. It’s designed to drive people’s lives through guilt into a state of desperation, leading them to seek something ‘greater than themselves’. As part of living your own way, the most vital clue from your chart involves cultivating your own ideas about relationship, on your own terms. For you, that is the message of this Mercury station direct.

 

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Some people have a lot of weird ideas about sex. Some have nearly no ideas about sex. And a few people have some coherent, helpful ideas about sex. Right now you’re being invited into this third category, which will require you to question what most people are terrified to do: take charge of your own agreements. Everything that’s not a criminal act of some kind depends on an agreement, an understanding or some kind of contractual arrangement. Right now there is festering rage (particularly in American culture) about sex occurring outside the context of an agreement. There is a remedy to that, which is being the master of your interpersonal contracts. To do this well, you must question what you believe, which invariably takes you deeper into questioning who and what you are. That, I believe, is the controversy: to have an honest agreement, you must be in contact with your values, your desires and your needs, and unabashedly so. It’s easier to get overpowered. It’s easier to manipulate. It’s easier to compromise with your values — in the short term. Right now, you have an opportunity to put out what’s absolutely true about you, and in particular your ideas about sex, and get some positive result. This particular window opening up is rare enough, but I think you can squeeze through and come out on the other side.